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Siege of Jerusalem
Part of theSennacherib's campaign in the Levant
Hezekiah's Wall
Date 701 BC Location Jerusalem,Kingdom of Judah Result Jewish victory Failure of Assyrian conquest Failed capturing of Hezekiah
Belligerents
Neo-Assyrian Empire	Kingdom of Judah
Commanders and leaders
Sennacherib's Rabshakeh Sennacherib's Rabsaris Sennacherib's Tartan	King Hezekiah of Judah Eliakim ben Hilkiyahu Yoah ben Asaf Shebna

TheAssyriansiege of Jerusalem (c. 701 BC) was an aborted siege ofJerusalem, then capital of theKingdom of Judah, carried out bySennacherib, king of theNeo-Assyrian Empire. The siege concludedSennacharib's campaign in the Levant, in which he attacked the fortified cities and devastated the countryside of Judah in a campaign of subjugation. Sennacherib besiegedJerusalem, but did not capture it.

Sennacherib's Annals describe how the king trappedHezekiah of Judah in Jerusalem "like a caged bird" and later returned to Assyria when he received tribute from Judah. In theHebrew Bible, Hezekiah is described as paying 300talents of silver and 30 talents of gold to Assyria. The biblical story claims that Sennacherib marched on Jerusalem with his army only to have it struck down near the gates of Jerusalem by an angel, prompting his retreat to Nineveh.

According to biblical archaeological theory,Siloam tunnel and theBroad Wall in Jerusalem were built by Hezekiah in preparation for the impending siege.

In 720 BC, theAssyrian army capturedSamaria, the capital of the northernKingdom of Israel, and carried away many Israelites intocaptivity. The virtual destruction of Israel left the southern kingdom,Judah, to fend for itself among warring Near-Eastern kingdoms. After the fall of thenorthern kingdom, the kings of Judah tried to extend their influence and protection to those inhabitants who had not been exiled. They also sought to extend their authority northward into areas previously controlled by theKingdom of Israel. The latter part of the reigns ofKing Ahaz andKing Hezekiah were periods of stability during whichJudah was able to consolidate both politically and economically. Although Judah was avassal of Assyria during this time and paid an annual tribute to the powerful empire, it was the most important state between Assyria and Egypt.^[1]

WhenHezekiah becameking of Judah, he initiated widespread religious changes, including the breaking of religious idols. He re-capturedPhilistine-occupied lands in theNegev desert, formed alliances withAscalon andEgypt, and made a stand againstAssyria by refusing to pay tribute.^[2] In response,Sennacherib attacked Judah, laying siege to Jerusalem.

Sources from both sides claimed victory, theJudahites (or biblical authors) in theTanakh, andSennacherib in hisprism. Sennacherib claimed the siege and capture of many Judaean cities, but only the siege—not capture—of Jerusalem.

The story of the Assyrian siege is told in the biblical books ofIsaiah (7th century BC),Second Kings (mid-6th century BC) andChronicles (c. 350–300 BC).^[3] As the Assyrians began their invasion, KingHezekiah began preparations to protect Jerusalem. In an effort to deprive the Assyrians of water, springs outside the city were blocked. Workers then dug a533-meter tunnel to theSpring of Gihon, providing the city with fresh water. Additional siege preparations included fortification of the existing walls, construction of towers, and the erection of a new reinforcing wall.Hezekiah gathered the citizens in the square and encouraged them by reminding them that the Assyrians possessed only "an arm of flesh", but the Judeans had the protection ofYahweh.

According to2 Kings 18, whileSennacherib wasbesiegingLachish, he received a message from Hezekiah offering to pay tribute in exchange for Assyrian withdrawal. According to theHebrew Bible, Hezekiah paid 300talents of silver and 30 talents of gold to Assyria—a price so heavy that he was forced to empty the temple and royal treasury of silver and strip the gold from the doorposts ofSolomon's Temple. Nevertheless,Sennacherib marched on Jerusalem with a large army. When the Assyrian force arrived, its field commanderRabshakeh brought a message from Sennacherib. In an attempt to demoralize the Judeans, the field commander announced to the people on the city walls that Hezekiah was deceiving them, and thatYahweh could not deliver Jerusalem from the king of Assyria. He listed the gods of other nations defeated by Sennacherib then asked, "Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me?"

During the siege, Hezekiah dressed insackcloth (a sign of mourning), but the prophetIsaiah assured him that the city would be delivered and Sennacherib would fail.^[1] According to Isaiah, anangel then killed 185,000 Assyrian troops overnight.^[2] Some scholars believe this number has been transcribed incorrectly, with one study suggesting the number was originally 5,180.^[4][5] Another scholar advises that the biblical narrative is marked by legendary embellishments that end with a miracle that saves Jerusalem.^[6] Dan'el Kahn says that the large number is an exaggeration, but 5,180 is far too low.^[7]

Sennacherib's Prism, which details the events of Sennacherib's campaign against Judah, was discovered in the ruins ofNineveh in 1830, and is now stored at theOriental Institute inChicago,Illinois.^[2] The Prism dates from about 690 BC, and its account is taken from an earlier cuneiform inscription dating to 700 BC.^[8] The text of the prism boasts how Sennacherib destroyed 46 of Judah's cities and trappedHezekiah in Jerusalem "like a caged bird." The text goes on to describe how the "terrifying splendor" of the Assyrian army caused theArabs andmercenaries reinforcing the city to desert. It adds that the Assyrian king returned to Assyria where he later received a large tribute from Judah. This description varies somewhat from the Jewish version in the Tanakh. The massive Assyrian casualties mentioned in the Tanakh are not mentioned in the Assyrian version.

After he besieged Jerusalem, Sennacherib was able to give the surrounding towns to Assyrianvassal rulers inEkron,Gaza and Ashdod. His army still existed when he conducted campaigns in 702 BC and from 699 BC until 697 BC, when he undertook several campaigns in the mountains east of Assyria, during one of which he received tribute from theMedes. In 696 BC and 695 BC, he sent expeditions intoAnatolia, where several vassals had rebelled following the death ofSargon II. Around 690 BC, he campaigned in thenorthern Arabian deserts, conqueringDumat al-Jandal, where the queen of theArabs had taken refuge.^[9]

Herodotus wrote that theAssyrian army was overrun by mice when attacking Egypt.^[10] Some Biblical scholars take this to an allusion that the Assyrian army suffered the effects of a mouse- or rat-borne disease such asbubonic plague.^[11][12] Even without relying on that explanation,John Bright suggested it was an epidemic of some kind that saved Jerusalem.^[13] The Babylonian historianBerossus also wrote that it was a plague that defeated the Assyrian army in the siege.^[14]

Henry T. Aubin writes inThe Rescue of Jerusalem: The Alliance Between Hebrews and Africans in 701 B.C.^[15] that the Assyrian army was routed by anEgyptian army underKushite (Nubian) command.^[16] However, Nazek Matty argues in her archaeological analysis that Aubin's Egyptian hypothesis is unlikely.^[17] D.D. Luckenbill said that because there is no mention of a purported Egyptian victory over the Assyrians in the Babylonian Chronicle ("which was not slow to record Assyrian reverses") the defeat of the Egyptians at the hands of the Assyrians in 701 BCE as documented by Sennacherib must be accurate.^[18] Paul Evans states that even the Egyptian records do not chronicle a military victory by Egypt against Assyria in 701 BCE.^[19]

An 1813 poem byLord Byron,The Destruction of Sennacherib, commemorates Sennacherib's campaign in Judea from the Hebrew point of view. Written inanapestic tetrameter, the poem was popular^{[citation needed]} in school recitations.

• Book of Kings
• Book of Isaiah
• Book of Chronicles
• Sennacherib's Annals
• Antiquities of the Jews,Titus Flavius Josephus

• Siege of Jerusalem (disambiguation), in particularSiege of Jerusalem (597 BC) andSiege of Jerusalem (587 BC)

• Evans, Paul S. (2023).Sennacherib and the War of 1812: Disputed Victory in the Assyrian Campaign of 701 BCE in Light of Military History. Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN 978-0-567-70897-7.
• Grabbe, Lester (2003).Like a Bird in a Cage: The Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE. A&C Black.ISBN 9780826462152.
• Grayson, A.K. (1991)."Assyria: Sennacherib and Essarhaddon". In Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S. (eds.).The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume III Part II. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521227179.
• Kalimi, Isaac; Richardson, Seth (2014).Sennacherib at the Gates of Jerusalem: Story, History and Historiography. BRILL.ISBN 978-90-04-26562-2.

31°46′06″N35°12′49″E / 31.768319°N 35.21371°E /31.768319; 35.21371

• 8th-century BC conflicts
• 8th century BC in the Kingdom of Judah
• Sieges of Jerusalem
• Battles involving Assyria
• Sennacherib
• Hezekiah
• Hebrew Bible battles

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